THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
In the ancient Jewish world, the Temple to God in Jerusalem provided all Jews, even those living in the Diaspora, with a physical focus for their shared identity. Jews who lived in close proximity would visit the Temple for the major pilgrimage festivals (Passover, the Festival of Booths, the Festival of Weeks). Jews living in the Diaspora would usually send an annual donation for the support of the Temple, and strive to visit Jerusalem at least once in their lives.
The first-century BCE King Herod rebuilt the Temple structure into a massively impressive complex, fit to be compared with other impressive temples of the Mediterranean world. He maintained the traditional structure of the older Temple (a central shrine surrounded by a series of courtyards), but extended the platform on which it sat through a series of retaining walls. Even non-Jews would travel to Jerusalem to see this magnificent structure.
Below is a reconstruction of the Temple of Herod (from the scale model of first-century Jerusalem found at the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem--note the people walking around the model in the background):
The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, and the massive space of the Temple Mount left empty by the Romans. Later, when Muslims conquered the city, they built a mosque on the temple mount (a sacred site for Muslims, too) which remains today.
Jews still venerate the one remaining piece of Herod's temple that still stands: the "western wall," one of the retaining walls of the temple mount (sometimes also called the "wailing wall"). In the picture below, note the crowds of Jews praying at the base of the wall.
